I used to be a big fan of Star Trek. I guess in some ways I still am. When Gene Roddenberry passed away, somehow the world that he created began to unravel. Star Trek: the Next Generation continued on for a couple seasons. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager offered the intent to keep the dream alive, but it was a diluted variant, with the dreams of others intervening. And like much of television and film and entertainment in general, it was being written by committee. There no longer seemed to be one captain at the helm.

So I walked away. Occasionally I catch an episode in reruns, but I don't really find much enjoyment in the newer works as I do in the first five seasons of Roddenberry's realization of his vision, or in the original series that started it all.

Until today. I came home, sat down before the television, and caught an episode of DS9 called Far Beyond The Stars. At the climax of the story, as Ben comes to terms with who he is and what he can create, he blurts out the phrase, "you can pulp a story but you cannot destroy an idea." The gist of Star Trek is still intact. The idea is still alive in the hearts and minds of those who found joy and enlightenment from it. An idea is greater than any one man.

So I guess I've been a bit unfair.

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